Choose a backpack with a padded waist or chest belt.
By Gracie Bonds Staples/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/MCT
Even if you’re not a parent of school-aged children, the traffic and returning road rage has signalled the beginning of a new school year.
But what may not be common knowledge, even to parents, are the risks associated with lugging around heavy backpacks.
According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, backpack-related injuries send an estimated 5,000 children a year to emergency rooms. More than 14,000 children are treated annually in the US for injuries.
Carrying a heavy backpack is bad enough, but if a child also suffers from scoliosis, a stress fracture or muscle strain, the weight can aggravate the condition or delay recovery, says Dr David Marshall, medical director of sports medicine at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
“The fallout from this could be missing school days due to back pain, missing certain classes (PE) and activities such as after-school sports, scouts and camps,” he said.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta offers these tips to worried parents:
*Buy a backpack with two wide, padded straps that go over the shoulders. Make sure your child uses both straps.
*Choose a backpack with a padded waist or chest belt. This distributes weight more evenly across the body. Multiple compartments also help distribute the weight.
*Your child’s backpack should not be wider than his body.
*Consider choosing a backpack with a metal frame (like hikers use) or on wheels (like a flight attendant’s bag). Check with your child’s school first to see if these types of bags are allowed.
*When fully loaded, your child’s backpack should weigh less than 15% of his body weight. Use your bathroom scale to measure the maximum backpack load so your child can know what it should feel like.
*Make sure your child isn’t toting unnecessary items like laptops, CD players and video games. These can add a lot of pounds.
*Heavier items should be placed closer to the back of the backpack, near the body.
*Picking up the backpack properly is important. As with any heavy object, your child should bend at the knees and grab the pack with both hands when lifting it to his shoulders.
*Encourage your child to develop stronger lower back and abdominal muscles. This will help avoid back injury. Weight training and yoga are two activities that can help strengthen core muscles.
SAFE SPECIFICATIONS
*No more than 10-15% body weight
*Well-padded shoulder straps (over both shoulders, not just one)
*Abdominal strap to evenly distribute the backpack load over shoulders and back
*Weight of the pack should not fall below the pant line.
*Well-padded pack to prevent being poked by pencil boxes, rulers
*Heaviest books in the front part of the pack, closest to the back
Source: Dr David Marshall, medical director of sports medicine at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.